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Women's Basketball Wins Rainbow Wahine Classic

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Seventh-ranked Stanford University (5-0) won its second tournament title in as many weeks by defeating Penn State University (4-2) 90-69 in the championship game of the Rainbow Wahine Classic on Sunday night at the University of Hawaii. The Cardinal, which won the Stanford Invitational last weekend, is off to its first 5-0 start in five years (1996-97).

'This was a great trip for us,' Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. 'We played three tough teams over here, including an excellent Penn State team tonight. Our depth really helped up this weekend. We had a lot of great individual efforts, and several different people came through in clutch situations.'

Penn State jumped on top early behind sophomore Kelly Mazzante (Montoursville, PA/Montoursville HS). The 2000-01 National Freshman of the Year last season scored 12 points in the opening five minutes as the Lady Lions raced out to an 18-10 lead.

But Stanford sophomore Nicole Powell (Phoenix, AZ/Mountain Pointe HS), who like Mazzante was a Freshman All-American last season, quickly answered back. The Cardinal erased the eight-point deficit with a 31-10 run of its own thanks to 11 points from Powell, who was named to the eight-player All-Tournament Team after recording 18 points and nine boards in the final. The spurt gave Stanford a 41-28 lead with 2:32 left before the half.

The Lady Lions scored seven straight to cut the lead to six, but Powell and senior Lindsey Yamasaki (Oregon City, OR/Oregon City HS) hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final 70 seconds of the first half to put the Cardinal up 47-35 at the intermission. Yamasaki, who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds against the Lady Lions, earned Tournament MVP honors for the second straight week after scoring 56 points over the three games.

'Lindsey is playing great basketball,' VanDerveer said. 'She is working really hard, and her two tournament MVP honors are very well deserved.'

Powell and Yamasaki had 14 points apiece in the first half to account for 28 of the Cardinal's 47 points, while Mazzante scored 19 of the Lady Lions' 35. Stanford shot 56.3 (18-of-32) percent in the first half to Penn State's 32.4 (11-of-34).

Stanford, which has won three of its five games this season against Big Ten opposition (Indiana, Minnesota, Penn State) picked up where it left off in the second half. The Cardinal never allowed the Lady Lions to get closer than 10 points in the final half, and put the game away with a 10-0 run midway through the period.

The Cardinal led 63-48 with 11:36 to play, and used a 3-pointer and free throw by freshman Kelley Suminski (Chester, NJ/Mendham HS) and baskets by Powell, Yamasaki and Cori Enghusen (Bothell, WA/Inglemoor HS) to build a commanding 25-point advantage. Suminski capped the spurt with a 3-pointer that Stanford up 73-48 with 8:32 to play.

'We worked very hard defensively tonight,' VanDerveer said. 'We came through and hit some really big shots.'

The Cardinal now owns an all-time record of 13-1 in the state of Hawaii, including three Rainbow Wahine Classic titles. In addition, all three teams Stanford beat in this weekend's tournament - Minnesota, Hawaii and Penn State - finished the tournament with a 2-1 record.

The Cardinal will return home for another busy week, playing three West Coast Conference opponents in five days. Stanford will host San Francisco on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., visit Pepperdine on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and return home for a 2:00 p.m. Sunday contest against Santa Clara. Stanford will then take a two week break for final examinations before hosting #2 (AP)/#2 (Coaches) Tennessee on Sunday, December 16 at 1:00 p.m.